T BING 1402216 Chapter1

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Erwin Rahayu Saputra, 2016

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT IN THE 2013 CURRICULUM

Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

In this introductory chapter, the background underpinning the study will be provided along with the overview of the theory and several other studies. Then, this chapter will also discuss the purpose of the study derived from the formulation of the research questions. The scope of the study will also be discussed in order to narrow the focus of the study. Then, the significance of the study will be discussed in the penultimate section of this chapter. Lastly, to inform the body of the thesis, the outline of the thesis will be provided in the last section of this chapter.

1.1 Background

Assessment is central to the teaching and learning. As one of the aspects embedded in a curriculum, it can be defined as a set of procedure of collecting information about the students’ development, growth, and achievement toward the learning objective (Shermis & Di Vesta, 2011) (see also Walvoord, 2010; Atkin, Black, & Coffey, 2001; Popham, 2008; Stiggins & Chappuis, 2006 for similar discussion). Besides, it is an ongoing process involving a large domain (Brown, 2004). Therefore, it is always conducted continuously from any kind of evidence in order to reach a decision for learning and teaching (see Walvoord, 2010; Shermis & Di Vesta, 2011).

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Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia | repository.upi.edu | perpustakaan.upi.edu

is a mandated assessment to implement by the teacher as stated in Regulation of Ministry of Education and Culture Number 66, 2013 on Assessment Standard, Reguation of Ministry of Education and Culture Number 81A, 2013 on Curriculum Implementation, and Kemendikbud (2014). In terms of practice, although the authentic assessment is stated clearly by the government though some regulations, based on the pleriminary study conducted with sixteen teachers from six different schools in West Java, they still have some various understandings and perspectives about that. That is why further investigation is needed to figure out the real implementation of authentic assessment in the context of the 2013 Curriculum.

Authentic assessment itself can be defined as multiple forms of assessment consisting of real world and higher order thinking tasks the students should perform (see O'Malley & Pierce, 1996; Mueller, 2014; Mahdavinia, Tabatabaei, & Rahimi, 2011). It therefore provides several advantages and one of them is the connection to the real-life skills (Meyer, 1992; Campbell, 2000; Wiggins, 1993a; Banks, 2005). This assessment views that life is not a series of isolated multiple-choice questions but full of complex, embedded problems to be solved (Wiggins, 1993b), so that higher order thinking consisting of synthesizing, collaborating and problem solving can be assessed (see Paulsen, Paulsen, & Meyer, 1991; Nolet, 1992; Cole, Stryuk, Kinder, Sheehan, & Kish, 1997). Therefore, in order to promote the advantages, the assessment should be implemented well through the proper process of designing, administering, and reporting.

Since authentic assessment consists of multiple forms of assessment to

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existence of mandated competences to assess by the teacher in the 2013 Curriculum also creates some variation on how the teachers assess them using authentic assessment.

In addition, because authentic assessment should be planned and administered properly to promote the advantages, the teachers may found it difficult to do. This is demonstrated by the preliminary study which revealed that most of the teachers felt difficult to implement the assessment although they have joined the training of the 2013 Curriculum. This becomes a classic problem in which the teachers know the theory or concept but they are not able to implement it as it is required.

Regarding the topic, there are plenty of studies concerning authentic assessment both from inside and outside the country (e.g. Mintah, 2003; Gulikers, Bastiaens, & Kirschner, 2006; Fook & Sidhu, 2010; Whitelock & Cross, 2012; Aksu-Ataç, 2012; Saputra & Rahmat, 2014; Ningsih & Adiantika, 2014; Saputra, 2015a, 2015b; Lubiz & Rahmawati, 2015; Jumiarti, 2015; Surya, 2015; Putri & Noviani, 2015). Generally, they do not discuss the topic of implementing authentic assessment in the context of the 2013 Curriculum. Although some studies had similarities with the present study in terms of the types and problems of authentic assessment to be reinvestigated more in different context, this study tries to fill the gap by investigating the process of implementation and assessed competences. It therefore makes conducting the study about the authentic assessment in terms of implementation embracing the types and assessed competences, and challenges of the authentic assessment in the 2013 Curriculum in deep will be worth doing to shed light about the real practice of English language teaching and assessment in Indonesia. Hence, it is for that reason this study was carried out.

1.2 Formulation of the Problem

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Curriculum from one English teacher in deep. Therefore, this inquiry is guided by the following research questions.

1) How does the teacher implement authentic assessment mandated by the 2013 Curriculum?

a) What types of authentic assessment are used by the teacher as mandated by the 2013 Curriculum?

b) What competences are assessed by the teacher using authentic assessment mandated by the 2013 Curriculum?

2) What are the challenges encountered by the teacher in implementing authentic assessment mandated by the 2013 Curriculum?

1.3 Purposes of the Study

In line with the research questions proposed, the purposes of the study are to identify the way an English teacher implement authentic assessments embracing the types of authentic assessment and the assessed competences, and the challenges encountered in implementing authentic assessment in the context of the 2013 Curriculum.

1.4 Scope of the Study

As mentioned in the previous sections and in order to narrow the focus, the present study concerns on the implementation embracing types and assessed competences, and the challenges of authentic assessment as mandated by the 2013 Curriculum derived from the data of interview, observation, and document analysis from one secondary school Englsih teacher along with her students in Cimahi, West Java. The limited respondent is intended to get the rich data and create thick description of the focus of the study.

1.5 Significance of the Study

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implement authentic assessment in the context of 2013 curriculum. Professionally, it is intended that the result of this study provides the fundamental reasons for educational stakeholders in making policies related to the authentic assessment in the context of 2013 Curriculum in Indonesia.

1.6 Outline of the Thesis